Essence (Reflection)

Who am I?

Uuummmm...

Sorry, still trying to figure that out.

Who do I want to be?

While I'm still figuring this out, I think I know this one better than the previous question. I want to be ME. I want to love and be loved. I want to live this life with gratitude and self-contentment. Now, I really don’t know how this will work. I'm 20, and I still feel so lost. But for now, I know that I want to live by three core values: Love, Courage, and Faith.

• Love—the verb—is essential for yourself and others. It's the foundation of knowing, loving, and forgiving yourself.

• Courage—Maya Angelou once said, “Without courage, you cannot act out any other virtue.” I want to embody other virtues, and I understand that to do that, I need to be courageous and vulnerable. Am I courageous right now? Not exactly. But it's a trait I'm working on and wish to embody later on. Vulnerability is not a weakness; it's a strength.

• Faith—Our dear Bible says, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” I believe faith is what keeps you going, even in the darkest times. Even when you're beaten down and hopeless, faith—and that seemingly naive belief that everything will work out—makes it all easier. I wish to explore that side of me in the future.

Lastly, I want to SERVE. I really do. I want to make an impact. I want to leave this world feeling fulfilled, knowing that I helped and uplifted people in my own way. If I could, I would create as many duplicates of myself as possible to help people, not for recognition, but because I genuinely believe this world is a shared one. The only way we can fully enjoy it is if everyone—and I mean every single person—is helped and uplifted. “So don’t look away when people are hungry, or give them fish when they are hungry; instead, teach them how to catch the fish.”

Thanks for reading, Love.